No. 13 Okla. St. Tops Texas Tech 79-70

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, January 26, 2003

Oklahoma State hasn't relied on just one or two players in putting together the nation's longest winning streak.

Melvin Sanders, Victor Williams and Tony Allen each took a turn at being the man for the 13th-ranked Cowboys on Sunday in a 79-70 victory over Texas Tech, their 14th straight win.

"That's one thing this whole year … we've been having someone stepping up big," forward Andre Williams said. "And we need to keep that rolling to keep this rolling."

Sanders, who finished with 17 points, hit three straight 3-pointers in the first four minutes for the Cowboys (16-1, 5-0 Big 12). Victor Williams scored seven points in the opening 2 1/2 minutes of the second half.

But it was Allen who quelled a run by Texas Tech (11-4, 1-3) in the closing minutes.

The Red Raiders closed to 65-64 with 3:14 remaining before Allen scored six straight points in just over a minute to give the Cowboys a 71-64 lead with 1:42 remaining.

Allen finished with 21 points.

"Tony has been doing things like that all year, making big plays down the stretch," said Victor Williams, who finished with 24 points. "They were pressing on the wings and denying the ball. When they do that it opens up the middle, and we were trying to penetrate. That's what Tony was able to do."

Oklahoma State scored on seven of its first nine possessions in the second half and used a 14-0 run to take a 54-39 lead.

"Their start was really good, really energetic, and we made mistakes and errors," Texas Tech coach Bob Knight said. "Then you're just trying to fight your way back. And then when we did come back, we again made a couple of mistakes."

Many of the Cowboys' points came on fast breaks from turnovers and rebounds. The Cowboys outscored Tech 18-4 in fast-break points.

"We got a lot of baskets in transition today," Sutton said. "If Bob were to be critical of his team, it might be in the fact that we beat them down the floor some and got some baskets."

Texas Tech used a 21-11 run to get within one, but the Cowboys put together a 10-1 run to lead 75-65 with 31 seconds remaining.

"It seemed like we would get in position and just defeat ourselves by making mental mistakes," Texas Tech's Will Chavis said.

Trailing by 11 points early in the second half, Tech had to claw its way back into the game.

"At the beginning of the second half, we dug ourselves a big hole," said Kasib Powell, who led Texas Tech with 26 points. "Then it took all of our energy to come back and we couldn't get over the hump."

"This isn't first grade," Knight said. "(Having more players score) seems to be something that's very obvious. We need more people to score, whether I say it, you say it or God comes down and says it."

The loss came in Knight's 1,100th career game and keeps him at 798 wins.

Texas Tech went more than five minutes without a field goal midway through the first half and trailed 26-16 with 6:38 remaining. The Red Raiders, however, went into halftime after scoring on 10 of their last 11 possessions and trailed 37-35.

Knight gave the Cowboys praise for their winning streak.

"I thought they played really hard and very well and that's what we've seen from them as we've watched them through the course of the season," he said. "I think they have to be good. Nobody's beaten them."

No. 10 Creighton 89, TCU 79

At Omaha, Neb., Kyle Korver scored 23 points and the Bluejays (17-2) rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half to extend their home winning streak to 10 games.

Larry House added 18 points for Creighton, which was coming off a loss at Evansville. Corey Santee led the Horned Frogs (7-10) with 27 points.

No. 17 Wake Forest 71, Florida St. 60

At Winston-Salem, N.C., Josh Howard had 24 points to help the Demon Deacons (13-2, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) extended their home winning streak to 11 games.

Tim Pickett had 27 points _ the most an opponent has scored against Wake Forest this season _ for the Seminoles (10-7, 1-5).